Steve Thomas

I am calling this guy, "Mystery Man". He's been given the name "Black Dog Man" and "Shadow Man" in the past. You can see him moving from the wall where Zapruder was to the end of the Elm St. Extension. In all of the pictures, he has been blacked out through some kind of photographic technique I think. At least I have never read an account of someone encountering someone dressed all in black after the assassination. His head covering, or hat, has been blacked out in the same way. Who is this guy? Steve Thomas

Lykes Bros. Steamship Company Orest Pena WC testimony: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/pena_o.htm Mr. LIEBELER - When did you leave Cuba? Mr. PENA - I left Cuba in September 1946. Mr. LIEBELER - Have you been back to Cuba since that time? Mr. PENA - Yes. Mr. LIEBELER - Would you tell us when? Mr. PENA - Oh, many times I went to Cuba. My last time I went to Cuba was about 8 months, I believe, after Castro took over, but before, I used to go very often because all my family is in Cuba, my mother, my father-- before my father died, I used to go to Cuba many times. I was a seaman, too. I used to ship out with the United Fruit Co. and the Lykes Brothers Co. That's before Castro took over. Mr. LIEBELER - You stopped working as a seaman in 1957? Mr. PENA – Yes. "They (The FBI) asked me if I saw Oswald; so I said I saw him once. He went to my place of business with one or two friends. I don't know exactly. My bar is a very long bar, so to me it looked like he was with two friends. My bartender, Evaristo Rodriguez, said he was with only one man, so I don't know exactly." OBITUARY of Frances Whitmeyer: Whitmeyer, Frances Raby was born February 21, 1922 and passed away April 4, 2009. Frances was born in Athens, Alabama to S.W. and Donna Raby. She graduated from Alabama Women's College in Athens. She moved to New Orleans and worked for the Lykes Steamship Co. and also for the City of New Orleans helping to translate French law into English. She later married George Whitmeyer and they moved to Germany where he was stationed after the war.They moved to Fort Worth in 1961 and then to Dallas in 1963. The Monroe News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana · Page 13 March 15, 1954 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/90445615/ "George L. Whitmeyer, whose wife, Frances Whitmeyer, resides here at 217 Pargoud Drive, has recently completed a 17-week Associate Infantry Office Advanced Course in Fort Benning, Ga.," The Monroe News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana · Page 3 October 23, 1956 https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/84343273/ "William F. Pipes, Jr. right, was promoted from first lieutenant to captain in the U. S. Army Reserves at ceremonies Monday night at the USAR training center, Selman Field. Looking on as Capt. Pipes reads his new commission is Major George L. Whitmeyer, unit advisor." So, it looks like Frances Whitmeyer was working for the Lykes Steamship Company at the same time that Orest Pena was working for them as a seaman. Oswald would use a ship from Lykes to get to Russia in what, 1959? Very interesting. Steve Thomas

One of the fascinating things about studying the JFK assassination case and exploring leads, is learning about the various subcultures that run through it. The subcultures hav their own circle of friends, their own vernacular, etc. One of the leads that I tried exploring many years ago was the idea that if Jack Ruby was involved in running prostitutes across the south in a prostitution ring (Dallas, New Orleans, Miami, etc.), and if he was running his mouth, the prostitutes he was spending his time with would be the people who would probably be in the know. There's Rose Cheramie and a story involving Pixie Lynn (Helen Kay Smith). Both prostitutes, both intimating that Oswald and Ruby knew each other in a homosexual relationship. (I still think Little Lynn knew more that she let on too). I explored the Pixie Lynn story for a while, but it didn't go anywhere that I could find. It ended in a dead end. For some examples see: https://books.google.com/books?id=YA4CBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT383&lpg=PT383&dq="Pixie+Lynn"+Ruby&source=bl&ots=A6N7cg4iU9&sig=jBpyJjZoRzexYZ-sPJQUbQ0DW8w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjx1uyqkLTUAhXB1CYKHRO2ARYQ6AEISDAH#v=onepage&q="Pixie Lynn" Ruby&f=false CE 2794 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1142&relPageId=219 CE 2795 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=1142#relPageId=220&tab=page CD 372 p. 37 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10774#relPageId=37&tab=page 26H pp. 184-185 Steve Thomas

Michael, You may be straying into the world of Benny Binion, Herbert Noble and R.D. Matthews. Here's one link you can look at: Steve Thomas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_L._Hamon,_Jr. Jake L. (Louis) Hamon was a personal friend of former US President George H.W. Bush.[4] Hamon and his wife visited the Bushes in China when Bush served as Envoy to China in March 1975.[4] Bush, George W. (2014). 41: A Portrait of My Father. London: Ebury Publishing. p. 114. ISBN 9780553447781. OCLC 883645289 Hamon died in 1985 while he was on vacation in Amsterdam Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities Book 22 p. 10333. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=145153&relPageId=145&search=Hamon Jake Hamon of 4738 Shadywood Lane, Dallas, TX appears in Rosemary Woods list of Nixon's 1972 contributors for $25,000. (Howard Hughes appears on the same page for $16,666.66 I wonder who was supposed to be the devil *smile*) Steve Thomas

Ah yes. Feel the love. It gives you warm fuzzies all over. WC testimony of Paul Raigorodsky http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/raigorod.htm Mr. RAIGORODSKY. Jake (Hamon) said he would not give him (George DeMohnreschildt) a recommendation unless he consults me. That surprised me that he wouldn't ask me right off the bat, but he went around about way. What could I do? Of course I said, technically on the job he (DeMohrenschildt) is perfectly all right, I mean, he is a good engineer--good petroleum engineer. Mr. RAIGORODSKY. No--he was my friend, I was his friend--he was Jake Hamon's friend and Jake Hamon was his friend. March 5, 1964 FBI Interview of Jake Hamon, 500 Vaughn Building. Interview conducted by SA Richard L. Wiehl CD 555. p. 43. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=10954&relPageId=44&search=Hamon First met George DeMohrenschildt in 1947 in Rangely, CO. Said DeMohrenschildt was an inferior geologist. Said Demohrenschildt's closest associate was Paul Raigorodsky. Hamon said that DeMohrenschildt was a “good looking nothing”, and that if he could take him or leave him, he would leave him”. Between Two Worlds, by Peter Applebome. https://books.google.com/books?id=SCsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA107&lpg=PA107&dq="Jake+Hamon"&source=bl&ots=92o5DJpss6&sig=CaLj2-EcG8m_-3jlFldJrvMm3FQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5uaPxrprUAhWZ2YMKHQzSCOkQ6AEIWzAN#v=onepage&q="Jake Hamon"&f=false pp. 106+ p. 107. Jake L. (Louis) Hamon, multi-millionaire. Worth 200 million. Gin rummy partner of H.L. Hunt. A director of American Petroleum Institute. Youngest man ever to have served as its Chairman. (p. 107). If you'd like an interesting read, read up on Jake's father. Also named Jake. At the center of the Teapot Dome scandal. Liberally bought delegates for Warren G. Harding. Reports claim Hamon spent more than $1 million to buy delegates. http://newsok.com/article/3910896 Shot and killed by his mistress when he wouldn't take her along to Washington. Steve Thomas

Ty, You might want to read up on "Operation Paperclip" Any regular google search will do. Steve Thomas

Was Aubrey Rike the driver of 606? http://www.billdrenas.com/articles/dpd01-00.pdf 12:18 289 (D.V. Harkness) radios in, “Give us an ambulance, 100 block North Houston Street. Epileptic seizure. ...make it a Code 3”. 12:19 Central dispatches 606 to that location. 606 was from the O'neal Funeral Home. “What's your location?” 606 responds, “We're at about Harwood and Cedar Springs.” 12:20 “10-4 Code 3 on Signal 28 (a sick person). 100 North Houston Dispatch tells 289 that 606 is at Harwood and Cedar Springs 12:23 606 reports that he is “Out” 12:24 Dispatch responds “10-4” 12:25 606 reports in that he is enroute to Parkland with a Signal 16 (an injured person) Dispatch asks if he needs a squad to meet him there. 606 says yes. 12:26 Dispatch instructs 23 (Patrolman B.E. Barnes) to meet 606 at Parkland on a Signal 16. 23 responds, “10-4”. Barnes apparently did not file an after-action report (at lease one does not appear in the DPD Archives JFK Collection). I wondered if the same ambulance was at the scene of the Tippit shooting, but it looks like he arrived after Tippit had already been taken away by then. 1:33 reports in, “606 , Code 6” (Arrived) 602 and 603 were dispatched to 10th and Patton, and it appears from the Dispatch tapes that the ambulance from the Dudley Hughes Funeral Home took Tippit to the Hospital. I didn't realize that Dudley Hughes was located so close to the Tippit scene, but at 1:26 #279 (Patrolman J.T. Griffin) reported in that they had found a white jacket, believed to belong to the suspect, in a parking lot behind the service station in the 400 block of East Jefferson “across from Dudley Hughes.” It also appears that at that time, and at least in Dallas anyway, ambulances were attached to the funeral homes and not the hospitals. That's a curious thing. Steve Thomas

Somebody needs some more covfefe.

Mathias, This is from the WC testimony of Paul M. Raigorodsky in vol IX of the WC Hearings: http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/raigorod.htm Mr. JENNER. Who is Mr. John De Menil? Mr. RAIGORODSKY. Mr. John De Menil is a very close friend of mine. He is the financial head of Schlumberger Co. and when I wouldn't go with George in the deal, he asked me to give him any suggestion as to who may be interested, so I suggested John De Menil because the Schlumberger Co. is a worldwide organization and they deal with every country in the world--you know what I am trying to say? Mr. DAVIS. Yes; I do. I am familiar with the name Schlumberger. Mr. RAIGORODSKY. And that he might be interested in going in business in Haiti, and at my suggestion he called him and went to see him and nothing came out of it because John De Menil finally turned him down after the investigation. Now, I am very sorry that in the past years I have had some correspondence with George but I didn't keep it, but then when things began to pop up and his name appeared in so many different things, I thought I better keep a file on him. Steve Thomas

Mathias, This is from Tom Scully in another thread on another Forum: (Thomas Eli) "Davis's wife was Caroline (first name per Bruce's obit) Hawley. Her brother Bruce Hawley was married to Josephine Schlumberger who had come from France to live with her uncle and aunt Eric Boissonnas (aka Boissonais) and Sylvie Schlumberger Boissonnas in New Canaan, CT. Her 2009 and his 2010 obit are retrievable easily via google. In Bruce's obit Davis's son Thomas S. is described as a nephew. Josephine's father, Dr. Marc Schlumberger was Dominique De Menil's and Sylvie Boissonnas's brother! I did a thread in 2012 on the Ed Forum about Davis's attorney, per FBI document related to Algiers arrest, Thomas Grattan Proctor. His son (Phil Proctor) was a Firesign Theater player, remember their album's? The thread is titled, Peter Bergman has Died A Founder of Firesign Theater" Steve Thomas

Mathias, see page 6 of this FBI document for a picture of Thomas Eli Davis. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=129677#relPageId=6&tab=page I had always been under the impression that Davis was a big bad scary dude. Now, I don't think so. Read through the HSCA Subject Files under Thomas Eli Davis https://www.maryferrell.org/php/showlist.php?docset=1246 I mean, who places an ad for mercenaries to engage in a "military operation" in Haiti in the Los Angeles Times? 12 guys show up for a meeting at a motel. They're told if the overthrow of Duvalier is successful, they'll get to split somewhere between $200,00 and $2,000,000. If the overthrow fails, they'll get $50 and a map to the Dominican Republic. This is just too funny. Steve Thomas

Andrej, For more on the Fox and Hounds account, see: FBI 105-82555 Oswald HQ File, Section 27 pp. 24-28 https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=57705&search="Fox_and+Hound"#relPageId=24&tab=page Steve Thomas

Mathias, I thought your question deserved some kind of response. It's not much, but I'll give you what I've got: (I'm sorry, you'll probably have to cut and paste the url references. My word processor doesn't seem to want to talk to this Forum software when it comes to copying and pasting hyperlinks). From: The Jack Ruby Connection by Robert Riversong: https://riversong.wordpress.com/the-jack-ruby-connection/ “For robbing a bank in June 1958, Thomas Eli Davis III had received a sentence of five years of probation, during which time he went to work for the CIA, helping train anti-Castro units in Florida and at another site in South America. When JFK was assassinated, Davis was in jail in Algiers, charged with running guns to the secret army terrorist movement then attempting to assassinate French Premier Charles de Gaulle. Davis was released from jail through the intervention of the CIA’s foreign agent code-named “QJ/WIN” who was identified by the top-secret CIA Inspector General’s Report as the “principle asset” in the Agency’s assassination program known as ZR/RIFLE.” This seems to track back to an allegation by Seth Kantor in his book, Who Was Jack Ruby” see footnote# 36 on page 540 of the book The Man Who Knew Too Much by Dick Russell. https://books.google.com/books?id=XJQX-4khd2QC&pg=PA540&lpg=PA540&dq=Davis+"Jack+Ruby"&source=bl&ots=qp7EPDOFWs&sig=Je3cGYqeiK5TMq4fXbyGBVNlewE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrwc7HrI7UAhVn04MKHZTPD_8Q6AEIDQ#v=onepage&q=Davis "Jack Ruby"&f=false In one sentence, Russell says Davis was bailed out of jail in Algiers where he was being held by the Moroccan authorities. I don't know if the error is Kantor's or Russell's. I don't know where the Algiers comes from. Algiers is in Algeria. Tangier is in Morocco. See volume IX of the HSCA Final Report pp 183+ https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=955&relPageId=191&search=Thomas_Eli Davis This also tracks back to Kantor's book. Accoring to the HSCA, Kantor says that Davis was in jail in Algiers at the time of Kennedy's assassination, but Davis's wife told the consul general (probably in Morocco) that they were traveling between November 2 and November 28. Davis was arrested in Tangier on December 8, 1963. Contrast this with the account in the book, Oswald Talked by Ray and Mary LaFontaine concerning an aborted coup in Haiti. See pp. 198 – 202. https://books.google.com/books?id=ymfQdYoqKyEC&pg=PA201&lpg=PA201&dq=Davis+"Jack+Ruby"&source=bl&ots=8rJfqPxCFs&sig=xS_ERZl3WlL5vCZEVAkW_XisS-0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrwc7HrI7UAhVn04MKHZTPD_8Q6AEIGA#v=onepage&q=Davis "Jack Ruby"&f=false I don't know about the 30th of November group. The LaFontaine's say it was Alpha 66. I had a discussion with someone recently on another Forum about a Davis that Ruby was supposed to have known in New Orleans. Something about shipping. For the life of me, I can't put my finger on it right now, but if I can dredge it up, I'll pass it along. Steve Thomas PS: From what I have learned, if Thomas Davis had been arrested by the French authorities in 1963 because he was suspected of being involved in an assassination plot against Charles DeGaulle, I highly doubt he would have been released prior to the general amnesty in 1968, regardless of the efforts of a QJWIN or otherwise.

Okay. I'll call it quits and cry uncle. Steve Thomas

David, James Woodard, gun-running pal of Jack Ruby was from Knoxville. The entire state got together in a secret conclave and planned JFK. In order to throw everyone off the scent the secret meeting was held in Bowling Geen, KY - you know, where that massacre took place. Bet you didn't hear about that one either, did you? Those Volunteers, they're a closed-mouthed group. Steve Thomas

All those CTers are wrong. It wasn't the mob or the CIA or the cuban exiles or the military-indusrial complex or Dallas oil men Tennessee did it. I offer the following proof: Robert Currwood (or Curtwood) Harrison was involved in a 4-car auto accident in Wyandotte, MI on June 20, 1952. The 1948 Mercury he was driving was owned by Thomas Eli Davis of Bristol, TN. https://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=69860#relPageId=2&tab=page The indices of the Identification Bureau of the Dallas County Sheriff's Office revealed that the Subject (Karen “Little Lynn” Bennett (Carlin)) was born 20 July, 1944 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. DPD Archives Box 4, Folder# 1, Item# 15, page 1. John Elrod, a 31-year-old cook was living in Memphis in 1964. Ray and Mary say Elrod was arrested November 22, 1963 at 2:45 p.m. by the Dallas Police and as such became the fourth tramp. He was placed in a cell with two other men. Within a few paragraphs we discover the men are Lee Harvey Oswald and a nineteen year old car thief from Memphis, Daniel Douglas. http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/elrod.htm In its files, however, the FBI found that in June, 1942, John Howard Bowen, (aka Albert Osborne) operator of a boys' camp at Henderson Springs near Knoxville, Tennessee, had been accused by one of the boys of tearing down an American flag and stomping it in the ground. The 1942 flag desecration case led the FBI in its Oswald investigation to look for Bowen in Tennessee. It found that over the years the Knoxville Journal had published a few pieces on Bowen, being a former local resident, based on mail received about his missionary work in Mexico. http://www.ronaldecker.com/osborne.html A copy of a 1963 visitors registration at the old American Museum of Atomic Energy appears to show Lee Harvey Oswald visited the Oak Ridge (Tennessee) museum four months before the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. http://knoxblogs.com/atomiccity/2013/11/22/lee-harvey-oswald-oak-ridge/ So there. Steve Thomas

Thomas, I apologize for my sloppy research. I have no excuses. Steve Thomas

The four teenagers and their history project. (Or at least three of the four are named) There's nothing earth shattering here, but it's kind of interesting to read their accounts and put it into context. They were working on a history project dealing with "subversive groups". CHARLES HODGES A 17-year-old high school student in Dallas, Hodges took photos at Dallas Love Field, on Stemmons Freeway immediately following the assassination, and at Parkland Memorial Hospital. That afternoon he sold his film to an Associated Press reporter. Recorded June 29, 1989, and June 13, 2011. http://www.jfk.org/oral_histories/charles-hodges/ JFK anniversary: Austinites remember when an assassination... http://www.mystatesman.com/lifestyles/jfk-anniversary-austinites-remember-when-assassination-shattered-ordinary-day/gsaF12sG5lMqzsNdjNsR1N/ “We found ourselves standing in the ambulance bay at Parkland Hospital,” O'Hara says. “We saw ... “Two of us went in, me and Charles Hodges. We listened to… Concord's David Wallace was eyewitness to history Nov. 22, 1963 ... http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2013/11/20/concords-david-wallace-was-eyewitness-to-history-nov-22-1963-2/ Nov 20, 2013 -... limousine parked in front of the Parkland Hospital in Dallas Texas. ... “My two friends, Will O'Hara and Charles Hodges, were able to go into... I sure wish the Sixth Floor hadn't pulled their oral histories from the web. Steve Thomas

Thomas, Thank you. Ray Hawkins meets James Dean. Steve Thomas

Baffling to say the least. http://oakcliff.advocatemag.com/2011/01/barbecue-with-a-side-of-heart/ Originally named the Bull Pen, the restaurant at 2321 W. Illinois opened in 1949. In 1957, when Oak Cliff voted itself “dry,” co-owner Bert Bowman sold out his half interest to his business partner, Austin Cook, who changed the menu, the restaurant’s name and the hours of operation. I'm hitting this mental block right now. What did they call the "rebel" teenagers in the 1950's? The ones who rolled up their t-shirts up over their biceps and stuck a pack of cigarettes up there, and smeared brylcream in their hair, wore white socks and rolled up the cuffs on their jeans? I read the other day that Oak Cliff was booming in the 1950's, and I'm picturing Tippit squaring off against groups of these kids in his part time security capacity. I've read that Tippit was not well liked among the kids and was regarded as a hard ass. We have this picture of Tippit based on the stock photos we've all seen, but I was kind of surprised to realize the other day that he was about 40 when he died. (That's all apropos of nothing, but I'm trying to put things in "context".) Here's a picture of Ray Hawkins - the guy who cuffed Lee Harvey Oswald in the Theater. Since when did ivory handled revolvers become stock issue for police officers? You're looking at a clash of cultures here. Steve Thomas

Michael, Sit down with a map in one hand and Croy's testimony beginning on page 200 here: (and compare what he says on pp 200-201, with he says on pp 205+) http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/russ/testimony/croy.htm and see if what he says makes any sense. On one hand, he says that he was going home (on Illinois presumablt) to change clothes, but then says that his clothes were at his parents house which was located 3 - 4 miles north. It's baffling to say the least. Steve Thomas

This makes Kenneth Croy's WC testimony and his decision to eat lunch at Austin's BBQ all the more suspicious.

From Bernard Weissman's WC testimony: Mr. JENNER. Did you at anytime while you were in Dallas ever have a meeting with or sit in the Carousel Club with Officer Tippit? Mr. WEISSMAN. No. Mr. JENNER. Do you know or do you have any information as to whether any of the associates you have mentioned ever had a meeting with Officer Tippit in the Carousel Club? Mr. WEISSMAN. None whatsoever. Mr. JENNER. Or whether or not, irrespective of whether it was a formal meeting or even an informal one, that they were with Officer Tippit at anytime in the Carousel Club. Mr. WEISSMAN. Absolutely not. Mr. JENNER. And you were never in the Carousel Club at all; and you never were with Officer Tippit. Mr. WEISSMAN. Right. Mr. JENNER. Any place. Mr. WEISSMAN. Any place. Mr. JENNER. Mr. Weissman, it has been asserted that a meeting took place on November 14, 1963, in the Carousel Club between Officer Tippit and yourself--and I take it from your testimony that you vigorously deny that that ever took place. Mr. WEISSMAN. Very definitely. May I say something in relation to this? Mr. JENNER. Is it pertinent to this? Mr. WEISSMAN. I believe so. I believe that this is a statement made by Mark Lane, who claimed to be attorney for the deceased Oswald. It was originally made at the Town Hall in New York, and later that same evening, I do not recall the date exactly, on a radio program Contact WINS New York, at about midnight of that same day. And in any case, I telephoned him several days after our radio and telephone conversation--I telephoned him at his office in Manhattan and got him on the line again. And I said. "Well, what has happened?" I was very curious as to what he had done about this. Mr. JENNER. Where did you reach him? Mr. WEISSMAN. At his office in Manhattan. I do not know the address. I had first contacted a law firm he was associated with previously, and they gave me his office number in lower Manhattan. And I telephoned him at his office. The secretary answered, then he got on the line. And he said this time--I don't recall exactly what was said before or after this particular part of the conversation. But I said that I want to meet this guy in Dallas, the one who told him this story and call him a xxxx to his face, and that I wanted it to be a public meeting, and Mark Lane said he would arrange for a public meeting, he would pay my transportation to Dallas to see this guy as soon as he could arrange a meeting. And I have not heard from him since. Steve Thomas

There was a story at one time that J.D. Tippit and Jack Ruby had been seen together in the Carousel. I don't remember the details right now. There was a G.M. Tippit in the Special Service Bureau. His first name was Gayle. He told me once that he liked and was a friend of Jack Ruby's. He was sort of embarrased about his first name and went by the name, "Tip". Thanks for the research help on whether Ruby was ever asked if he knew J.D. Tippit. Steve Thomas